Wednesday, 19 September 2012

Sugar Craft Crazy!

I have had such a brilliant evening! I've just arrived in the door and I'm on an absolute high! The reason for said elation.....This evening my bestie Ned and I started a sugar craft course. The first night of the 10 week course exceeded my expectations. I have really wanted to do this course for as long as I can remember but found it hard to find a class that was in any way close to where I live. Well I didn't find a course close to me but I did find one in Knocklyn, but this class is definitely one worth the journey. This evening we were getting to grips with some of the materials, tools and the do's and don't's of sugar craft. We've been given a 'Shopping List' of things to get for next week which I will more than enjoy browsing for! For anyone getting started in sugar craft or who is interested in taking it up as a hobby, it is quite expensive. The tools, raw materials and decorations can be very pricey if you don't know where to look. Being the queen of thrift and bargaining I did a little research and discovered that eBay is a treasure trove of all things sugar-craft at really reasonable prices. I ordered the set below for €10.49 (with an additional €10.00 postage). So for €20 I got a huge range of tools for a fraction of the price of what's available in the shops. This set of tools was ordered from Hong Kong and arrived within 10days (See link below). Decobake (Dublin & Clane) and websites such as 'Stuff4Cakes' also stock tools and sugar paste at average prices. In the U.K shops such as 'Hobbycraft' stock sugar craft materials and in the U.S. Wallmart stock many Wilton products.

Tonight we made animals from sugar paste. A somewhat unlikely pair, a monkey and a crocodile. We used green sugar paste (fondant icing) for the crocodile and a range of browns for the monkey. Our tutor recommended buying pre-coloured sugar paste if you need a lot of one colour as opposed to colouring white fondant with food colouring. Also to note that dying white sugar paste red or black, will often result in pink and grey! Therefore if at all possible you should purchase pre-coloured red and black sugar pastes. The scale effect on the crocodiles back was achieved by snipping gently with a scissors....very clever. The base of most animals is similar, with minor tweeks for distinguishing features. I plan to do a later post on 'Tips & Tricks' for beginners in a couple of weeks when I have expanded my skill set a little!